LA LAKERS

I knew from middle of last season Magic Johnson was the one encouraging Jeanie to come out publically against her brother. The talking points about D'Angelo and the front office, echoed by Magic's cronies like Michael Wilbon, along with Dodger beat writers (of all people) suddenly writing about Lakers' internal affairs was a give away as to the source of the push.

Magic's basketball takes these past few weeks have been embarrassing, Facebook-fan level nonsense. As Laker Film Room pointed out on Twitter, the "Randle just needs a right hand and he'll be an all-star" take is straight out of an 80s scouting report. In fact, Randle's right hand is the least of his issues at this point. And this is the guy who is gunning to have final say on basketball operations?

The PR tour is so incredibly tone-deaf -- it might work on basic basketball fans and casual followers, but best believe that agents and other players see right through the BS, and it only cements their view of the Buss family as incredibly incompetent, with the head of the snake publically fomenting discord at every possible opportunity. No competent NBA operative has a reason to respect Magic's skills in running a franchise, and will prey on his ignorance and arrogance on the trade market. His proclamation that free agents will want to sign if he's in the room is so incredibly embarrassing, I don't know what to say.

Given the personalities of Jeannie and Magic, here's where this is going: the team will likely not improve or even regress because of terrible basketball decisions. Jeanie and Magic have shown they will not take responsibility, and instead will blame everyone and everything (through their media buddies) on coaches and players. Perhaps this is why Jeannie and Phil got along so well?

I just sense that a really horrible trade is gonna happen, if not by the deadline, by this summer.

Jim and Mitch have done an incredible job drafting, a terrible job in free agency. The Lakers need a savvy basketball mind that is familiar with both the courting process and the modern NBA game on every level.

We need to make it known that the real fans aren't looking for some hare-brained quick fix.